Isabelle Mercier is known as Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ on the professional poker circuit where she has cashed in on her ability to see through people’s lies
Isabelle Mercier is known as Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ on the professional poker circuit where she has cashed in on her ability to see through people’s lies.
The 47-year-old French Canadian ‘went pro’ in 2002 a few years after ditching her career as a lawyer to work on the tables as a dealer in a Parisian casino.
Speaking with FEMAIL the card-shark from Montreal revealed the tell-tale signs someone is trying to lie to you and how to improve your own poker face.
Seeing through a lie and developing your own fool-proof mask can help improve your relationships, ability to negotiate with employers and limit your risk of becoming the victim of a scam, Isabelle explained.
‘I think I always had a good sense of when people were not being honest, I lived alone and travelled a lot so I had to be on the ball – but now it is 100percent,’ she said.
‘It is very hard to lie to me.’
One of the biggest tells in the game is called ‘the statue’ and it the sign of a great hand.
The 47-year-old French Canadian ‘went pro’ in 2002 a few years after ditching her career as a lawyer to work on the tables as a dealer in a Parisian casino
This tell can be used in the outside world.
‘Appearing as a statue, as if they aren’t even in the room, can show someone is lying as they are doing everything in their power, and through their body language, to not put any focus on themselves or what they are doing,’ she said.
Isabelle, who now only plays professionally on online tournaments and works as an ambassador for Platin Casinos, spent years learning how to spot deception.
Another poker tell that Isabelle says carries through to the real world is ‘the old man’.
This is when people begin to shake, like an old man, when they touch their chips and is usually because they have realised they have a good hand.
In real life Isabelle says people can shake and look nervous once they believe they have ‘gotten away with a lie’.
Acting too quickly, making rash decisions is also a tell in the game and real life when someone is trying to deceive you, she explained.
In poker and many situations in real life learning to spot deception is only half the battle – you also need to learn how to hide your own, she explained.
She has been a professional poker player since she was 25 years old – when there were just three women on the circuit
The best place to start is to ask trusted friends, if they have ever notice moments where you have lied or appeared weak.
This works when talking about games like poker and for real-life tells, according to Isabelle.
Timing is key when keeping up appearances at the table and in your own private life.
‘If you want to use your poker face in day-to-day life, try the same thing and keep to your normal schedule. If your routine changes, people may be able to spot that other things have changed too,’ Isabelle said.
Meditating and ‘getting in the right headspace’ before your poker face is needed is also important.
Isabelle has been honing her poker skills for decades and with that her ability to recognise the slightest tells.
The former Poker Stars champion learned to play the game as a very young child.
She fondly remembers ‘sitting at the big man table’ with her father and uncle as they explained the rules of the game.
‘My cousins, all the other children, would be in one corner of the room playing kids games and I would be quite-seriously playing poker,’ she said.
But she never thought she could do it professionally, so when it came for her to choose a career she decided to become a lawyer.
The first tournament Isabelle went in she played in her bosses place – and came second – this made her believe she could become a professional player
‘I had no passion for anything else, so I went to law school because I was smart enough and it seemed like a place where I would get a good education,’ she said.
After school Isabelle managed to get a job in a prestigious law firm but decided she wanted to travel the world so left Canada for Paris.
She started working at a casino dealing cards where she discovered the game she loved was more popular in Europe than it had ever been in Canada.
‘I had worked at a casino at home too, but it was all gambling like black Jack and roulette, there was nothing like poker.’
Then, in 2002, Isabelle was given the opportunity to play in a professional tournament in Amsterdam.
‘My boss was sick, so gave me his ticket, I think he was just doing it to be nice but didn’t expect anything to come from it,’ she said.
At that tournament Isabelle came second, winning $80,000, (53,000€).
It was then she realised she could be a professional poker player because she was ‘already much better than the so-called professionals there’.
‘I thought to myself I can do this – look how much I have just made in one day of playing.’
After the tournament Isabelle went back to her job at the casino still unsure if she could take the plunge.
Her days were taken up by her obsession with poker, which had just started to be popular online.
‘I spent all day before work doing online tournaments,’ she said.
Isabelle now plays online tournaments – after she lived in hotel rooms and out of her suitcase for years
Then she read a self-help book and decided to chase her dreams knowing if she failed she could fall back on her background as a lawyer.
‘The book asked if you had all the money in the world what would you do, I thought I would just play poker. Then the book said ”then that’s what you should do”,’ she said.
So she took the advice and a year after her first tournament she went pro.
She was quickly picked up by Poker Stars, sold her belongings and spent the next five years travelling the world.
‘I had no possessions and no home. I lived out of luxury hotel suites and took business class flights from tournament to tournament,’ she said.
She even travelled to Australia.
Isabelle was one of just three women on the professional circuit at the time.
‘I was lucky and got a nice sponsorship deal, I am aware it was because I was a blonde 25-year-old woman, but it helped me a lot.’
And while she wouldn’t recommend people take the path she took, because it was ‘very hard’ she says it is always worth chasing your dreams.
Isabelle says her skills on the poker table are transferrable to real life and help her see when people are lying
‘I am not saying quit your job and become a professional poker player,’ she said.
‘But I believe we should chase our dreams and do what we love. Imagine how good the world would be if everyone did that.’
She now lives the quiet life after buying a rural property with her partner when Covid hit.
‘I live a very comfortable life, it was time to come home to enjoy my family, my parents are not young,’ she said.
‘We have five chickens, a cat and a close connection with nature.’
She no longer travels the world to play cards, following the global pandemic.
She plays online, and says it is a good challenge because instead of understanding lies you need to understand patterns.